1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method for communicating area information and, more particularly, to a method for providing a common framework for area of interest (AOI) specification and access.
2. Background Description
The proper sorting of mail such as, for example, envelopes of varying sizes, packages, magazines and the like, is critical to the stream of commerce as well as the dissemination of information, worldwide. To sort mail, several different scenarios are possible ranging from manual sorting to automated systems using optical character recognition software. In any of the scenarios it is important that the mail be sorted based on one of several different criteria, any of which will result in the proper dissemination of the mail. For example, the mail may be sorted via a bar code, address or other similar indicia, or it may be necessary to determine a return address or whether proper postage is placed on the mail. All of this information may be necessary for the efficient sorting and ultimate delivery and/or proper routing of the mail.
Currently, there are many producers and consumers which utilize various recognition systems based on area of interest (AOI). For example, there are producers which develop facing identification mark (FIM), stamp, meter mark bar code, destination address block (DAB) processing, return address block (RAB), cropping and other recognition based programs, to name a few. However, up to now, each of these functional units uses its own set of conventions for describing the area information. This, of course, causes integration difficulties and maintenance issues.
By way of example, an address block finder may describe an area as a four point non-axis aligned polygon. In contrast, an address block reader may require an axis aligned bounded box. This disparity of descriptive methods forces the higher level application to convert between the different methods for each provider/user pair. This is detailed and error prone work.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.